CONDUCTOR Yoshikazu Fukumura will debut as new music director of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) with his countryman, superstar Japanese violinist Ryu Goto, as guest performer during the 34th concert season openers of the resident orchestra of Cultural Center of the Philippines on Sept. 9.

ON A Saturday with nonstop monsoon rain battering Metro Manila and the nearby provinces, the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) under Darrell Ang survived its latest season concert and received a hair-raising standing ovation at the Power Mac Center Spotlight at Circuit Makati last Aug. 13.

THE PHILIPPINE Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO), the resident symphony orchestra of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), has a new music director, Yoshikazu Fukumura of Japan, and his goal is to raise the level of the PPO and make it one of the best, one of the top five symphony orchestras in Asia.